Primary fields of research

Lene Hansen primary research interests are International Relations Theory and Security Studies with a particular emphasis on poststructuralism, feminism and constructivism. Her book Security as Practice: Discourse Analysis and the Bosnian War (Routledge, 2006) lays out a poststructuralist theory about the relationship between identity and foreign policy. Security asPractice also provides explicit methodological guidelines for how to apply discourse analysis to international relations. Lene's interest in the concept of security and the history and sociology of Security Studies led to The Evolution of International Security Studies(Cambridge University Press, 2009) co-authored with Professor Barry Buzan. Lene has also worked on gender and security, cyber security, the Danish debate on the European Union, and the Muhammad Cartoon Crisis.

Current research

Lene Hansen is the director of "Images and International Security", a large research project funding by The Danish Council of Independent Research (Grant ID: DFF - 1327 - 00056B). The project runs from 2014 and till the end of 2017. It starts from the assumption that images are crucial for what become security problems. Images can engender international crises, they may harm countries' reputation and can generate public support for foreign policies. More information about the project is available at www.images.ku.dk

Teaching

Lene Hansen teaches and supervises within the fields of Security Studies and International Relations Theory particularly emphasizing poststructuralism, feminism and constructivism. She is particularly interested in supervising Masters and Ph.D. projects that include a visual component.